Four provinces and the Yukon want the RCMP kept from confiscating and buying back legally purchased guns, leaving RCMP officers caught between the provinces they contract to and Ottawa who gives them orders..Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and New Brunswick issued a joint press release on the federal plans October 14 following a recent meeting of federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for justice and public safety. It called on the federal government “to halt plans to use scarce RCMP and municipal police resources to confiscate more than 100,000 legally acquired firearms from Canadians.” .Prairie provinces have already written their RCMP divisions directing them not to use provincial funds for this purpose. MLAs in the Yukon unanimously adopted a motion October 13 to the same effect..Larry Comeau spent 36 years with the RCMP and retired as a superintendent. He said the prime minister was wrong to say Canadians don’t need weapons for self-protection, given the distance between a police detachment and many farms on the prairies. He believes the gun buyback is the latest misuse of the force by the federal government..“Once again, a bone-headed and virtue signally policy by the Trudeau government has placed the RCMP in an untenable position. When Trudeau opened the border to anyone seeking asylum the RCMP found itself acting as baggage carriers and child minders rather than arresting illegal border jumpers! When Trudeau declared war on truckers, protesting his vaccine mandates, the RCMP was used to break these up--this even though RCMP members could lose their jobs or be suspended for not taking the experimental vaccines under the Trudeau mandate,” Comeau wrote to Western Standard by email..“When (Justin) Trudeau was pushing yet another gun grab to appease his urban voting base, the RCMP were forced to provide him with the types of weapons used in the Nova Scotia massacre even though that could have compromised its ongoing investigation. Trudeau obviously wanted this to provide cover for his most recent gun grab.”.Both the Trudeau government and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki have denied that political interference was involved in the investigation of the mass shooting in Nova Scotia. Either way, Comeau says the gun confiscation announced immediately afterwards places current members of the force in a difficult spot..“Now with the Premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan saying they will not participate in Trudeau’s buy-back gun grab, the RCMP finds itself answering to two masters. The RCMP is contracted to provide provincial policing in both provinces, so [they] answer to the premier. They also investigate federal statues in those provinces so [these] come under the Trudeau government that no doubt will expect it to take action on non-compliant gun owners," Comeau said..“The RCMP is far too close to the Trudeau government which is negatively affecting the overall performance of its duties by determining its priorities based on political needs.”.Carleton University Criminology Professor Darryl Davies believes Ottawa blundered by imposing the gun ban on provinces without consultation or consideration. He says the RCMP Act has put responsibility for police discipline and enforcement issues in Ottawa’s hands, not the provinces, but does not think that is proper..“The power and control is centralized in a bureaucracy and a structure that's not transparent, that's not accountable to anybody, and very secretive…it's leaving the provinces in a very, very weak position,” Davies said..“It's reached a point where the provinces are saying we've had enough, and we're not going to put up with it anymore. And this is the era that we're in. If they want to maintain a relationship with the federal government, then they should put accountability and the whole disciplinary process within the contract, stipulating that it falls under provincial authority... If you leave power and control in Ottawa, it's a disaster,” Davies told Western Standard.. Darryl DaviesDarryl Davies .He says the RCMP’s reputation has worsened since the time the mid-‘90s gun registry was implemented, and using the Mounties for this unpopular seizure will not help..“The federal government just seems to think they can go in and the RCMP will enforce the law. Well, I'm sorry, at the end of the day, the provinces are responsible for the administration of justice. And that's their constitutional right, and it's up to them. If the Province of Manitoba, or Saskatchewan and Alberta say no, well, that should be the end of it.”.Leland Keane, a former Mountie who hails from Nova Scotia, told Western Standard the policy offends many police officers and sport shooters..“My feeling as a shooter and a retired policeman is that neither group feels consulted as end users by the people who they employ in government. It's pure political folly to buy guns back from people with their own money to pursue policies that have zero effect on safety. Real police, as in the ones who actually work the streets, have no time and no inclination to perform tasks that do not contribute to anyone's safety,” Keane said..“Having lost colleagues in the force and other forces and witnessed unspeakable harm done by criminals to the innocent, the Liberal/NDP government's ideological temper tantrum of gun control is obscene and offensive to victims of crime.”.Keane calls the gun buyback “political theatre” that won’t take guns from criminals..“The resources do not exist for the RCMP to take part in this gun control exercise. They have neither the budget or the bodies to get it done in the foreseeable future. It will amount to nothing more than a political promise by the Senior Executive of the RCMP who do not have the confidence of the rank and file,” Keane said..“They physically don't have the resources and you'll never get that out of people like Brenda Lucki. You'd never get past the JP [Justice of the Peace in traffic court as a recruit saying some of the stuff that she did [before the Mass Casualty Commission] and not be called out for it. Using expressions like ‘I think,’ or ‘I believe,’ you would never have made it through mock court in depo…I've given plenty of evidence in my career..“I don't think anybody believes that she's in charge anymore. They all know she's a figurehead.”.Retired Mountie Andy Brooke is waiting to see if Lucki will rally the force to Ottawa’s cause..“Given the alarming and deepening politicization of the RCMP that has been underway since this Liberal government assumed office in 2015, I am cautiously surprised at this response [by the provinces],” Brooke told Western Standard by email..“I am waiting for the other shoe to drop here. Will RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki submit yet again to political pressure — as we have learned that she did through Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission testimony? More political arm-twisting is not outside the realm of possibility on the firearms file.”
